Birding Paraguay

The Grand Chaco, Cerrado & Atlantic Forest

15 days /
14 nights

This tour is designed to give a well rounded and thorough experience of Paraguay’s habitats and maximize opportunities for wildlife watching. It is ideal for those wanting to experience Paraguay as a whole and get up close and personal with its range of natural attractions and history, whilst it also gives you the opportunity to clean up on some of Paraguay’s most sought-after species. After a short visit to the botanical gardens, we proceed up through the Low Chaco, a heaven for waterbirds. While birding the marshes and ponds along the way, we look for typical species of the flooded palm savanna including Black-hooded Parakeet, Southern Screamer, Jabiru, Maguari Stork, Plumbeous Ibis, Great Black and Black-collared hawks. In the drier High Chaco our main targets are specialties such as Chaco Chachalaca and Brushland Tinamou. Of these the most sought after, and hence the most difficult are the ‘Big 5’ - Spot-winged Falconet, Chaco Owl, Black-legged Seriema, Quebracho Crested-Tinamou and Black-bodied Woodpecker. Among the mammals, the Chaco Peccary, Lowland Tapir and Giant Anteater are present in this area. Although seeing Crab-eating Fox, Brazilian Cottontail, Red Brocket Deer and various armadillos are more likely in terms of mammals.

The top Cerrado sites have a total of 10 threatened and 4 near-threatened species. Black-masked Finch, Sharp-tailed and Cock-tailed Tyrant, White-banded Tanager and Bearded Tachuri is one of them. The two ‘big ticks’ are the Lesser Nothura (only known site outside of Brazil) and the endangered White-winged Nightjar (one of only the three regular sites in the world for this species). Other grassland specialties include White-rumped Tanager, Curl-crested Jay, Black-throated Saltator, Plumbeous Seedeater and White-rumped Monjita. Join our local experts on a tour to this magnificent, yet poorly-known area where history and culture blend with wild nature and spectacular birds.